Students will work on collaborative projects that will be on temporary exhibition in the park. Close contact with working artists and art students in these two countries as well as a visit to the National Art Academy in Tallinn Estonia will provide a wide range of exposure to contemporary issues in visual art in Europe. Visits to major art museums, cultural sites will be arranged in each country. For those students who choose to extend their stay in Europe, Helsinki is the ideal city from which to visit St. Petersburg Russia and the Hermitage Museums and other world-class collections and historic sites

Monday, June 14, 2010

Pedvale Reception Description

Please excuse my punctuation mistakes, dont have time to find the right keys.

A lot has been going on since Carlś last post. I will try to summarize as best as I can. We only had one slow PC in beautiful Pedvale Sculpture Park and it was hard to access plus we were hard at work on sculpture+labor. Which was why we came to Latvia. For me this was so nice. As a Graduate Student for the past two years I have been on the computer more than making actual artwork and finally to have a couple of weeks to focus all my time on one artistic endeavor was quite a needed treat.

Id like to upload some photos of the reception and everyones final work but Iäm in a nternet cafe in Tallinn and this will have to do for now. Everyone of us labored till the end on our and eachothers artworks. We met for breakfast at 9am everyday and worked in groups till 1pm for lunch. Then trooped back out into the park until dinner at 7pm everyday. It was like an art summer camp.

The reception saw about 50 Latvian guests. Ojars Feldberga, an extraordinary human being, started the reception off with a stone+planting ceremony, wherein he donned full camoflage fatigues and different hats representing the stones´ origins. Then we marched on out to everyones sculpture where Ojars (the curator and MC) said a few words and then the artist said a few words which Laura, Ojars artist daughter, translated for Latvians and Americans. Personally, It was the first time I have ever spoken in front of a group with a translator. You know I ate it up. Everyone did a super job on their pieces and spoke very well about them. It was a very tremendous experience.

Two of the sculptures were performative. Opening act: Cole and Mallorys were lit up as the sun was setting. The Hobbits: Mike, Alex, Eric, and Jesse had a huge performative piece with fire (wait till you see the pictures) that gave us the cresendo and finale of the night. Many of the pieces were actually about Pedvale and many were dedicated to our esteemed professor, Carl Billingsley. It was apparent to me, a first+timer at Pedvale, that this place and the people that bring this symposia together have a special history.
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